SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
| GOAL: Technical Competence |
| Objective |
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| Students will develop and demonstrate knowledge of theoretical materials, computational and technical skills relevant to Digital Forensics |
| Indicator |
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The management project in this degree program is a software engineering or strategic planning project that involves the students identifying a significant development need for a selected client and the design and implementation of an appropriate software or policy solution to that need. Each student is assigned to a member of the graduate faculty in Digital Forensics as project advisor together with two additional graduate faculty forming the students committee. The department has established procedures for managing projects including 1. The presentation of project proposals within the first two weeks of the semester. The graduate faculty review and approve or disapprove each proposal. 2. Weekly progress meetings with the project advisor. 3. The evaluation by the complete graduate faculty of each students progress at midterm. 4. The distribution of project activity to the remaining members of each committee. At the end of the project each student prepares and runs a formal presentation including a description of the project, detailed explanation of the solution used and a demonstration of the completed application. |
| Criterion |
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| Students graduating will have documented consensus of the Graduate Faculty that they meet professional standard in project design, documentation implementation and presentation. |
| Finding |
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| 7 students presented their final projects in the 2011/2012 cycle, 5 in spring, 1 in summer and 1 in fall. All 7 students successfully defended their projects (100%). All students took no more than two semesters to complete and successfully defend the project. |
| Indicator |
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One hour oral examination by the student's committee. The committee consists of three individuals, with one person designated as committee chair. Students are examined and given a grade of high pass, pass or fail in each of the following areas: Network Security Cyberlaw Policy and Procedure Digital Forensics Tools and Procedures and one other area of competence of the students choosing. Student are prepared by their project advisor and are furnished with a large sample of potential questions together with model answers. The graduate advisor also runs review sessions for student preparing for their orals. |
| Criterion |
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| We expect committee members to issue the score (high pass, pass or fail) on each of the knowledge areas to each student. 100% of students will score a pass or high pass on each area. |
| Finding |
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| 7 students were involved in Oral Comprehensive Examinations during the 2011/2012 cycle. All 7 students passed the examination for a 100% success rate. |
| Action |
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In general the Graduate Curriculum Committee was satisfied with the results of the evaluation of students acquisition of technical, ethical and management skills through the capstone assessment system in place. There were concerns that the oral examination may intimidate students and that those with English as a second language might be at a disadvantage in an oral situation. As a result the Graduate Curriculum Committee has agreed to examine the potential for changing the oral examination to a written examination. The GCC will examine the logistics of how written examinations might be implemented and present their findings in the February 2013 department meeting. This will allow the Digital Forensics program to remain aligned with assessment changes in the Computing and Information Science graduate degree program. |
| Closing the Loop |
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The findings appear to indicate that the graduate program in Digital Forensics is effectively transmitting the theortical, technical, ethical and managerial skills to students as evidenced by the students' performance in the oral examinations and in their defense of their capstone projects. The GCC will review the potential for written comprehensive examinations to replace oral examinations.
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